Russian Central Bank Considers Crypto for International Payments
Russia’s central bank is open to using cryptocurrencies for international payments, according to a senior bank official.
The central bank First Deputy Governor Ksenia Yudaeva said, “in principle, we do not object to the use of cryptocurrency in international transactions.”
Like most central banks in other countries, it does not approve of its citizens investing in, trading, or using cryptocurrencies as payments, as it views them as a threat to its financial system.
In general, central banks are not big fans of decentralized digital assets because they diminish their level of control over the country’s finances. Additionally, they may compete with any central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects in the pipeline. Again, this is all about control since a CBDC will give banks much more leverage over what people can and can’t do with their own money.
Yudaeva referred to user risk over its stance on crypto for its citizens, according to a Reuters report.
“We still believe that the active use of cryptocurrency within the country, especially within Russia’s financial infrastructure, creates great risks for citizens and users. We believe that in our country those risks could be reasonably large.”
As a result of Western sanctions, the overall risks to financial stability in Russia have declined as banks now have ample foreign currency liquidity, Yudaeva added.
The Russian central bank has previously called for a blanket ban on crypto, but it seems that the global financial sanctions have swayed it reconsider the position. However, there is no clear decision yet regarding the status of the asset class for regular Russians as the discussions continue.
Last week, the finance ministry said that the idea of using crypto for transactions for international settlements was being actively discussed.
Earlier this month, Russia’s Industry and Trade Minister, Denis Manturov, noted that authorities may eventually legalize crypto payments within the country “in some format or other.”
